<p>My daughter will take the PSAT in October. Her brother missed the cut-off for semi-finalist this year by 5 points. We'd like to avoid that scenario if possible. What would be the best preparation? Would it help to take the SAT for practice before the PSAT? She hasn't taken the SAT since 8th grade. She seems to do better on the ACT than the SAT - 32 composite a year ago.</p>
<p>I would not suggest taking the SAT before junior year unless you are very confident that she can achieve 2100+ (Ivy caliber scores). Instead I think it would be a better idea to just simulate an actual test at home which would both save you $45 and potential upset. When studying, I would also suggest shortening the time constraint by 2-5 min per section in order to really improve pacing. My recommendation for studying is: </p>
<p>Critical Reading:
-Direct Hits Vocabulary - if you know this cold you probably won’t miss any sentence completions
-Blue Book - I would suggest, as a modest study plan, to go through one passage each night and then go through every answer explanation. Then perhaps when you come closer to the test date, take a test every weekend. I would purchase SAT Online Course from College Board in order to obtain answer explanations. </p>
<p>Math:
-Kaplan Math Book-I know people poo-poo Kaplan on here, but this book helped me to fill in many holes I was missing since all the exercises are grouped by particular skills. So I realized I lacked skills in coordinate geometry, planar geometry, and logical algebra. I managed to jump from 650 to 800 with this method.
-Grubers - Haven’t used it, but people on CC love it
-Blue Book - this is naturally the best way to PRACTICE (not gain skills). I suggest working through BB and then going to khanacademy(dot)org and going through all the answer explanations of questions she got wrong or guessed on. </p>
<p>Writing:
- Kaplan’s Grammar Rules - for skill
- Barrons 2400 - for skill
- Blue Book - for practice. Will need to purchase online course for answer explanations.</p>